"Take Shelter" and "The Artist" Lead Spirit Award Nominations

The nominations for the 27th Film Independent's Spirit Awards were announced this morning in Los Angeles, and both Jeff Nichols' "Take Shelter" and Michel Hazanavicius's "The Artist" (which few realized was eligible) led the pack with 5 nominations a piece.

The nominations for the 27th Film Independent's Spirit Awards were announced this morning in Los Angeles, and both Jeff Nichols' "Take Shelter" and Michel Hazanavicius's "The Artist" (which few realized was eligible) led the pack with 5 nominations a piece.

The two films were joined in the best feature category alongside "50/50," "Beginners," "Drive," and "The Descendants." While that was a generally expected lineup (save "The Artist"), the nominations overall were quite surprising.

Beyond the unexpected presence of "The Artist," the Spirits made some major snubs in the acting categories: George Clooney ("The Descendants"), Glenn Close ("Albert Nobbs"), Joseph Gordon-Levitt ("50/50"), Owen Wilson ("Midnight in Paris"), Paul Giamatti ("Win Win"), Kenneth Branagh ("My Week With Marilyn') and Felicity Jones ("Like Crazy") were excluded in favor of a quite a few highly unexpected nominees. Most notably, Lauren Ambrose ("Think of Me") and Rachael Harris ("Natural Selection") were nominated the lead actress category over Close and Jones.

"Like Crazy" was snubbed altogether, while Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" - though nominated for supporting actor and cinematography - was completely shut out of the top categories.

"The Artist"

Fox Searchlight was far and away the leader among distributors, taking in 14 nominations. Sony Pictures Classics followed with 9.

At the announcement, co-presenter Anthony Mackie added some levity to the proceedings, giving a tiny fist pump when “Half Nelson” co-star Gosling popped up on the nominee list. Afterwards, extolled the virtues of some of the other nominees.

“This year, I really enjoyed ‘The Artist,” ‘Take Shelter,’ and ‘Pariah,’” Mackie said. “They all have a real focus on storytelling, which is something that gets lost in all of today’s 3-D.”

Mackie’s announcing partner, Kate Beckinsale, was also quick to praise “The Artist,” citing its success as a key part of a varied field. “One of the things that I found great about it was that you couldn’t really generalize these films. We’re seeing these very left-field, high-far-reaching concepts.”

John Cassavetes Award
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)Bellflower - Writer/Director: Evan Glodell; Producers: Evan Glodell, Vincent Grashaw